Advances in the development of dielectric elastomer generators for wave energy conversion

Abstract

The journal considers articles on the following themes, provided the link to renewable and sustainable energy is clear and thoroughly examined: Energy resources-bioresources (e.g. biomass, waste), fossil fuels (including natural gas), geothermal, hydrogen, hydropower, nuclear, marine and ocean energy, solar and wind Applications-buildings, industry and transport Utilization-batteries, conversion technologies, fuel cells, storage technologies, technical developments and technology scaling Environment-atmosphere, climate issues, meteorology, mitigation technologies (e.g. carbon capture and storage (CCS), carbon capture and utilization (CCU), solar radiation management) Techno-socioeconomic aspects-health, industry, policy, political, regulatory, social (e.g. access, education, equality, equity) Systems-carbon accounting, energy-food-water nexus, energy modelling, life cycle assessment (LCA), nutrient-energy-water (NEW) nexus, smart infrastructure AUTHOR INFORMATION PACK 30 Oct 2020 www.elsevier.com/locate/rser 2 Sustainability-the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) AUDIENCE. Scientists, researchers and consultants involved in all aspects of renewable energy.

A Review of Dielectric Elastomer Generator Systems

“…a) A prototype of a WEC with circular diaphragm DEG. [ 141 ] b) Laboratory prototype of a water mill generator for currents energy harvesting. [ 23 ] c) Internal combustion engine based on a deformable DEG cylinder.…”

“…[ 48 ] Finally, small‐scale prototypes were built and tested in wave tank basins, subject to artificial waves with scaled frequency and amplitude. [ 48,73,141 ]…”

Hardware-in-the-loop simulation of wave energy converters based on dielectric elastomer generators

“…In the last decade, the technology of dielectric elastomers (DEs) has become one of the potential game-changing solutions for wave energy applications [2,3]. DEs can be used to develop lightweight inexpensive electrostatic generators, namely DE generators (DEGs) [4,5], which might provide power take-off (PTO) solutions for WECs featuring better adaptability to the highly variable and chemically aggressive sea environment compared to traditional hydraulic or electro-mechanical generators [6].…”

“…Thus, pneumatically-driven DEGs [9] can be effectively employed as the PTO for OWCs. The DEG-based OWC has been largely investigated in the last few years [6]. Wave tank tests have been carried out to assess the energetic performance up to a scale of approximately 1:30 [10], and a first campaign of sea tests has been carried out in a mild natural basin to test the passive response (without electrical control) of a DEG-OWC in real waves [11].…”

“…Recently, a special DEG layout, called a circular diaphragm DEG (CD-DEG), has been proposed as an alternative PTO system [6], which might allow overcoming problems related to the limited adaptability of the turbines to the harsh sea environment and their poor efficiency in the presence of bidirectional flows.…”